Even before I saw the light of this world, my sins from previous births,Through which I passed because of desire for the fruits of my deeds;Punished me as I lay in my mother's womb.There I was boiled in the midst of unclean things.Who can describe the pain that afflicts the child in his mother's womb?Therefore, O Siva! O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray for my transgressions.

2.

In childhood my suffering never came to an end;My body was covered with filth and I craved for my mother's breasts.Over my body and limbs, I had no control;I was pursued by troublesome flies and mosquitoes;Day and night I cried with the pain of many an ailment,forgetting Thee, O Sankara!Therefore, O Siva! O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray for my transgressions.

3.

In youth the venomous snakes of sound and sight, of taste and touch and smell,Fastened up my vitals and slew my discrimination;I was engrossed in the pleasure of wealth, and sons and a youthful wife;Alas! my heart, bereft of the thought of Siva,Swelled with arrogance and pride.Therefore, O Siva, O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray for my transgressions.

4.

Now, in old age, my senses have lost the power of proper judging and acting;My body, though still not wholly bereft of life,Is weak and senile from many afflictions, from sins and illnesses, and bereavements;But even now my mind, instead of meditating on Siva,Runs after vain desires and hollow delusions.Therefore, O Siva, O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray for my transgressions.

5.

The duties laid down in the Smrti - perilous and abstruse -- are now beyond me;How can I speak of the Vedic injunctions, for brahmins as means for attaining Brahman?Never yet have I rightly grasped, through discrimination,The meaning of hearing the scriptures from the guru and reasoning on his instructions;How, then, speak of reflecting on Truth without interruption?Therefore, O Siva, O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray for my transgressions.

6.

Not even once have I finished my bath before sunrise and brought from the Ganga Water to bathe Thy holy image;Never, from the deep woods, have I brought the sacred bilwa leaves for Thy worship;Nor have I gathered full-blown lotuses from the lakes,Nor ever arranged the lights and the incenses for worshipping Thee.Therefore, O Siva, O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray for my transgressions.

7.

I have not bathed Thine image with milk and honey, with butter and other obalations;I have not decked it with fragrant sandal-paste;I have not worshipped Thee with golden flowers, with incense, with camphor flame and savoury offerings.Therefore, O Siva, O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray for my transgressions.

8.

I have not made rich gifts to the brahmins, cherishing in my heart,O Mahadeva! Thy hollowed form.I have not made, in the sacred fire, million obalations of butter,Repeating the holy mantra given me, by the guru.Never have I done penance along the Ganga with japa and study of the Vedas.Therefore, O Siva, O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray for my transgressions.

9.

I have not sat in the lotus-posture, nor have I ever controlled the Prana along the sushumna, repeating the syllable Aum;Never have I suppressed the turbulent waves of my mind,nor merged the self-effulgent Aum,In the ever-shining Witness-Consciuisness, whose nature is that of the highest Brahman;Nor have I, in Samadhi, meditated on Sankara, dwelling in every form as the Inner Guide;Therefore, O Siva, O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray for my transgressions.

10.

Never, O Siva! have I seen Thee, the Pure the Unattached, the Naked One.Beyond the three gunas, free from delusion and darkness, absorbed in meditation.And ever aware of the true nature of the world;Nor, with a longing heart, have I meditated on Thine asupicious and sin-destroying form.Therefore, O Siva, O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray for my transgressions.

11.

O Mind, to gain Liberation, concentrate wholly on Siva,Thy sole Reality underlying the worlds, the Giver of good;Whose head is illumined by he crescent moon and in whose hair the Ganga is hidden.Whose fire-darting eyes consumed the god of earthly love;whose throat and ears are decked with snakes;Whose upper garment is a comely elephant's skin,Of what avail are all these rituals?

12.

O Mind, of what avail are wealth or horses, elephants or a kingdom?Of what avail is a son, the wife, a friend, cattle the body and the home?Know all these to be transitory, and quickly shun them;Worship Siva, as your guru instructs you, for the attaining of Self-Knowledge.

13.

Day by day, a man comes near to death;His youth wears away; the day that is gone never returns;Time, the almighty, swallows up everything;Transient as the ripples on a stream is the goddess of fortune;Fickle as the lightning as life itself. O Siva! O Giver of shelter to those that come to Thee for refuge!Protect me, who has taken refuge at Thy feet.

14.

I salute the self effulgent Guru of the gods, the Lord of Uma.I salute the Cause of the universe;I salute the Lord of beasts, adorned with snakes;I salute Siva, whose three eyes shine like the sun, the moon and fire.I salute the Beloved of Krishna; I salute Sankara, He who bestows boons on His devotees and gives them shelter;I salute the auspicious Siva.

15.

O Siva! white is Thy body, covered with ashes; white gleam They teeth when Thou smiles!White is the skull Thou holdest in Thy hand; white is Thy trident which threatens the wicked!White are the rings that hang from Thine ears; white is the bull on which Thou ridest!White appear Thy matted locks, flecked with the foam of the Ganga!White shines the moon on Thy forehead!May He, who is all white, all pure, bestow on me the treasures of forgiveness for my transgressions!

16.

O Siva! forgive all the sins that I have committed,With hands or feet, with ears, or eyes, with words or body,with mind or heart;Forgive my sins, those past and those that are yet to come.Victory unto Siva, the Ocean of Compassions, the Great God,the Abode of Blessedness!

Yes. But as Ramanaduli said this sloka and the other one on Devi (Devi KshaparadamanaStotram) is all for us only. Sri Sankara's true state of being, is known only fromhis Dasa Sloki, where he speaks about him to Govinda Bhagavadpada at the cavenear Narmada river. When Govinda asked Who are you? ( a la Bhagavan Ramana),Sankara answered his state of being. The need of a Guru was only a formality.

In south people say we should not bring anything from Shiva's temple. In tamil they say SHIVA SOTHTHU KULANASAM. i.e. we should not take away of shiva's belonging from the temple. But surprisingly, in each townthere is a shiva temple covered with 4 roads. It is called Mada veedhi. In olden days, kings built the temple and donated the near by lands and built rest houses for the devotees to stay during the festivals of temple. It takes for 10days also. But slowly, after independence, there is no rest houses. People owned the lands and built houses guest houses, schools. The same people same people after puting vibudhi on their forehead, they put rest of vibudhi in temple only. When I asked they say shiva soththu kulanasam. I consider this vibudhi is prasad and to be taken home and give to the old people who cannot go to temple. For owning everything also we have to ask khama from shiva.

There are several such misconceptions. The Vibhuti, flowers andplantain fruits given by the priest or some distribution of prasadgiven by particular devotees, can be brought home. There is nothingwrong about it.

A similar misconception is the Chandeswara Sannidhi. People claptheir hands and leave a thread from their clothes. Both are not as per scriptures. Chandeswara is not deaf to ask for our clapping.Only, the palms must kept together and small taps should be given four times, to inform our departure from the temple. He isthe guardian angel of Siva Temple. Siva's clothes, food and flowers, after His wearing, are given only to Chandeswara. Not even Hissons Ganapati and Skanda are eligible for it. There beautiful Tamil verse on this in Periya Puranam. The thread is not given to him. One should show his upper cloth to see that he does not steal anything from Siva's temple. That is all. In the olden days, they had only dhoti and upper cloth. So this is shown. For women this rule is not there.

My gratitude for putting up this wonderful piece of transalation on this Stotram.i have often heard this on tapes and cd but could never fathom the deep meanings involved.while going thru the same one does see some similarity and nuances of Bhaja Govindam too ..wonder if i am correct .The composition is powerful and i am lucky to have atleast understood something today of what the great philosopher expressed with clarity and directionOM Nama sivayya.